The genus Lepidium from the family Brassicaceae has 16 species in Iran, and the most famous species is garden cress (L. sativum), which is used as a vegetable or medicinal plant. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality and quantity of seed essential oil of
More
The genus Lepidium from the family Brassicaceae has 16 species in Iran, and the most famous species is garden cress (L. sativum), which is used as a vegetable or medicinal plant. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality and quantity of seed essential oil of seven L. sativum populations collected from different climatic regions of Iran. Seeds of L. sativum populations were hydro-distillated by clevenger, and the chemical composition of the essential oils and their quantitative percentages were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The main compounds of seed essential oil were monoterpenes 1,8-cineole (44.5%), α-terpinyl acetate (13.9%) and α-pinene (7.7%). The populations of Karaj, Kerman and Qazvin had the highest amounts of 1,8-cineole, α-terpinyl acetate and α-pinene, respectively. The results of cluster analysis based on the chemical composition of garden cress seed essential oil using the Nearest neighbor method showed that seven studied populations were divided into two groups, and this grouping did not match the geographical coordinates of the regions. The first group included the populations of Kerman, Qazvin, Shahriar and Tabriz, and the second group were the populations of Shiraz, Hamadan and Karaj, which had the highest amount of 1,8-cineole and the lowest amount of α-terpinyl acetate and 7,10-hexadecadienoic acid, methyl ester. According to the results of the bi-plot diagram of principle component analysis (PCA), Karaj population -which had the lowest values of the first and second components- was placed in a distinct group. No significant correlation was observed between the main compositions of the essential oil with the geographic coordinates and weather conditions of the collection sites.
Manuscript profile